(BIVN) – Honolulu attorney, an educator, and cultural practitioner James Mauliola Keaka Stone Jr., spoke in opposition to a petition concerning the “invalid classification of the de facto and improper industrial use precinct” on Mauna Kea during a state Land Use Commission meeting in Hilo on Thursday.

“For most of my life, and I am 63 years old, the use of Mauna Kea for scientific purposes has been viewed positively by our community and admired worldwide for its enormous contribution to humanity’s understanding of the cosmos,” testified Stone, who said he supports the Thirty Meter Telescope planned for the mountain.

“To be clear, I am kanaka maoli,” Stone said, “and the petitioners and the positions and arguments stated in the petition, and the amended petition, do not speak for me.”

“It is heartbreaking to witness how an entitled minority now feel that their personal beliefs give them the right to ignore legal process, and the obvious benefits for current and future generations,” he said.

The petition, filed by Kuʻulei Higashi Kanahele and Ahiena Kanahele, says that the “current industrial facility uses in the defacto industrial use precinct are appropriate within the urban district” and not the present conservation district.

But Stone takes issue with the legal argument, saying that “the petitioners have no property interests to initiate a request for a boundary amendment or to compel the Boards of Land and Natural Resources to undertake a boundary amendment.”

Big Island Video News will have more from Thursday’s Land Use Commission meeting in Hilo.